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Week:11, Season:1,
2014
Posted on Saturday by PCT
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A Reborn Life
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Scripture：《
John 3:1-17
》
3：1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
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Last summer, the hot weather made everyone feel uncomfortable; the fatal incident of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu’s death made the whole of Taiwan sweat. The abuse case had occupied all the front pages and headlines of the press which expressed the helplessness little people have. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets with activist group Citizen 1985 to protest and fight for justice, calling for the government to push for better protection of human rights. Sadly, the Taiwanese government chose to ignore the people’s voice which made people feel like “a dog is barking towards a train (Taiwanese idiom; means useless).” In the meantime, Taipei City Zoo announced a documentary about the new-born panda “Yuan Zai.” The joy of the new life switched everyone’s focus. News of Yuan Zai captured people’s heart. The cute new life sent away the shadow of death for Taiwan.
Attitude to life and death
There are various attitudes about “life and death” in Taiwan’s society. From a medical perspective, life starts from the “date of birth.” Looking at the whole picture of life, humans move towards death from the day they are born. When our heart beat, breath, and blood pressure stop, it is defined as death. Buddhists consider death as “reincarnation”; a journey people take to escape from sea of bitterness and to arrive the Land of Ultimate Bliss by the help of the person who helps repeating the Buddha’s name. In folk religions, it is considered that the spirit of a dead person comes back home on the seventh day after death. If someone dies away from home, the spirit will need guidance and virtue achievement so that the dead person can have a splendid past life in the underworld. On the other hand, those who are living one hope that the spirit of the dead person may come home but they also fear this; therefore, one tradition is to put a rock beside the feet of the dead person and pray that the spirit does not come back until the rock is rotten. Confucius said, “While you do not know life, how can you know about death?” Confucianism does not draw attention to concepts about death.
It is difficult for people facing death; most of us would want to try our best to avoid it and prolong our life. We always try to find reasons for those who died in vain, and wish that justice can be done. The case of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu’s death showed the injustice of the military system in Taiwan; people protested on the streets to urge the government review and improve the biased military management system; people want the military training to be more humane and so no more young lives will be lost in the army for this reason. Another issue people expect to prevent is suicide. A suicide may be caused by various reasons. Taiwan Suicide Prevention Centres set under each local authority are working hard to save people’s lives. We might feel surprised when watching TV news that every day, unreasonable things are happening. When bad things happen, some people can get over the pain but some cannot; thus another tragedy occurs. One positive way to avoid suicide is when you sense that someone is talking about giving up his life and his behaviour becomes abnormal, try to refer him to Suicide Prevention Centre. You can also encourage him to come to church. Let the message from Jesus shine on his future; let the love of God bring him hope.
However, no matter how much we fear death, reject and try to avoid it, all humans die eventually. Our body will walk toward the end of it. If everything ends as soon as our body dies, what are the differences between humans and other animals? Paul has written in 1 Corinthians 15:19, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
A reborn life
In the Bible passage above, Jesus was talking to Nicodemus about rebirth. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, which indicates that he had wide range of knowledge, knew the laws well and his social status was high. According to the law and ethical traditions, a Pharisee should object to Jesus’ teachings; but Nicodemus wanted to meet Jesus. He was afraid to be seen by people and thus came to Jesus during the night. He said to Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Nicodemus visited Jesus because he wanted to know the mystery of life.
Who is Jesus? Nicodemus called Jesus “rabbi,” a respectful title the Jews call their teachers. Nicodemus explained that he knew Jesus came from God and was with God. Jesus replied to his question regarding life, “no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” What is the kingdom of God? For Jewish people, the kingdom of God is what they have been anticipating for so long; they are expecting the Messiah to come to save them and set them free from all the sufferings they inherited from their ancestors.
“Life” represents the beginning of life and hope of life; “death” represents the end of life. To the dead, death is the termination of life but death does not end all of the sufferings. Take Hung Chung-chiu’s death for example, the death of one army corporal revealed lots of questions which the living people, including his family, the army, the nation and the society all needed to solve along with the tragic case. One person’s death can be “light as feather” or “heavy as a mountain.” To be “reborn” is not only to die for a good reason but more importantly, to live with the real meaning of life. It is not an easy road to walk.
What is reborn? Jewish people anticipate the coming of the kingdom of God but they blindly followed the Law and lived with customs and traditions. Some laws are unchangeable, such as seeing a doctor on the Sabbath. If someone is ill in Sabbath, he shall not see the doctor and the doctor shall not see any patients. Such tradition is similar to the Taiwanese lunar calendar that if a day is “avoiding medications,” then seeing a doctor on that date is a serious conflict with nature; this is “fate”. The law becomes a standard for people to follow, but sometimes it becomes a barrier wherever it loses flexibility. When people live by the law without allowing some flexibility of it, they will live without love and begin to judge others often. Live by law and die by law. Jesus said to Nicodemus that people need to be “born again”; which is to surpass the law and live a better life.
Jesus says that all need to be born of water and the Spirit. Water and the Spirit represent the ceremony of cleaning; a crucial sign of religious ceremony. A Baptism service shows a person’s will to believe this faith and be admitted to a covenant with God; through the washing of the Spirit to clean one’s ungodliness and become holy. For those who reject Jesus’ teachings and works, they of course cannot understand the meaning of to be born of water and the Spirit
The meaning of reborn is that life restarts from the moment to be born again, which is our choice. We need to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord in our lives so we can live a meaningful and abundant life. The reborn new life has crucified the “old me” with Jesus on the cross. The negative and disobedient old me has died, and the new life of “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Let us make promises to start a positive and abundant life now.
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For discussion：
1.What is the meaning of Christian Baptism?
2.What is the definition of reborn? How to be born again? Is reborn and to be baptised the same thing?
3.Jesus said, “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” What is your comment about this?
Please pray for：
1.May God clean our body, mind and soul so we can be born again.
2.Pray for family members who need to be born again. May God guide them.
3.Pray for the revival of the church. May the Holy Spirit work in the church and let the new reborn life work in the church.
Prayer：
Merciful Father, we thank you for choosing us, calling us to be people of the kingdom of God. May you cleanse our minds and help us to live the reborn life. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Give me a humble heart to learn from Jesus and to love my family, neighbours and people around me with the love of Jesus Christ. Help me to live with the fragrance of the Lord. In the name of Christ, Amen.
Something you can do：
1.Try to think are there any regular attenders at church who have not yet been baptised? Are there any families who have come to church for a long time but have not yet removed the worshipping idols at home? Pray for these people.
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